marijuana

We welcome Dakota Political Junkies Dana Ferguson with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader and Seth Tupper with the Rapid City Journal. This week we discuss the power of a typo to derail a ballot measure and more.

Dakota Political Junkies Dana Ferguson and Denise Ross join us to talk about recreational marijuana and its potential as a ballot measure, which lawmakers might deserve a “furniture” rating in Pierre, and other top South Dakota political headlines of the week.

The group backing two marijuana related ballot questions says they’re concerned about the language of the Attorney General’s explanations.

The Attorney General is tasked with crafting ‘an objective, clear, and simple summary’ of a proposed amendment.

A lawyer assisting the group New Approach South Dakota in passing two ballot questions legalizing recreational and medicinal marijuana says the language in Attorney General Marty Jackley’s summary is unnecessarily strong.

On Wednesday, August 3rd, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announced charges against two men for drug offenses. The men were hired as consultants from a Colorado company that worked to help set up a marijuana resort with the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe.

Jackley says Eric Hagen is charged with conspiracy to possess more than 10 lbs of marijuana. Co-conspirator Jonathan Hunt is also charged for alleged drug offenses.

Governor Dennis Daugaard is considering supporting a bill that allows one type of medical marijuana. Earlier in the session, he said he would not support Senate Bill 171. The measure has since been amended to only allow one marijuana extract.

Tony Harrison is the South Dakota Fraternal Order of Police national trustee. He’s also in charge of narcotics investigations with the Pennington County Sheriff's Department. Tony Harrison joins Dakota Midday host Lori Walsh to talk about the FRONTLINE special “Chasing Heroin” on SDPB-TV, and whether or not heroin is a challenge for South Dakota law enforcement officers.

The State House podcast for Tuesday February 16th, 2016 includes coverage of legislation on regulations of transgender bathrooms and locker rooms in schools, education funding, feedlot approval regulations, and drug policy.

South Dakota voters may have another chance to approve or turn down medical marijuana.

Proponents of a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for medical use turned in roughly 16-thousand signatures to the Secretary of State’s office. About 13-thousand are needed to put the issue before voters. State officials are now working to verify the petitions.

A 19-year-old Sioux Falls man is dead after a weekend shooting that involved drugs and alcohol. Officers say Mikael Ashame died early Saturday morning from a gunshot wound. The man who shot him is in custody, and authorities arrested another person who owns the gun.

Sioux Falls police officials say they responded to a shooting first as a 911 hang up. Someone said a man shot himself, and another story was a man in a ski mask came in and shot someone. The investigation shows one man is dead following an accidental shooting.

Roger Whittle, managing editor of the Watertown Public Opinion, and Jonathan Ellis, Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter and columnist, visited about former South Dakota Governor Walter Dale Miller who died Monday at the age of 89. Other topics included the South Dakota Gear Up Program, the possible expansion of South Dakota's Medicaid program, and the Santee Tribe's announcement of a new marijuana resort.

A Lakota farmer is fighting for the right to plant a new crop of industrial hemp on Pine Ridge.

Alex White Plume began growing hemp in the late 1990’s after the Oglala Sioux Tribe legalized the crop for industrial use.

But drug enforcement agents soon seized the White Plume crop. He spent several years fighting in federal court and is under an injunction restricting his ability to plant again, despite new provisions in the Farm Bill that open the door for the crop.

Last week leaders of the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe moved to legalize marijuana on the reservation. The executive board approved the ordinance after examining how other areas handle legalized marijuana.

Leaders of the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe are legalizing marijuana on the reservation. The executive board has approved the ordinance after examining how other areas handle legalized marijuana. Members are planning for an operation that grows marijuana for medicinal and recreational use.

The Flandreau Santee Sioux executive board is making marijuana a tribal business. President Tony Reider says leaders are working to create a secure environment to cultivate the crop.

A bill to reduce criminal penalties for small amounts of marijuana failed to pass through the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday. Senate Bill 221 sought to make possession of less than two ounces of marijuana a class two misdemeanor, which carries a sentence of up to 30 days in jail. It now is a class one misdemeanor with a one-year jail possibility.

The nationwide debate over marijuana laws is finding a home in the South Dakota state legislature this year. States like Colorado and Washington moved toward legalization of pot in the November elections. In South Dakota lawmakers are considering a few bills that change the penalties for marijuana use. SDPB’s Charles Michael Ray has today’s Dakota Digest on the debate over reforming marijuana law.

A bill introduced in the Health and Human Services Committee today (Thursday) would give people charged with marijuana possession the opportunity to defend themselves using a medical defense. As SDPB’s Jilanne Doom reports, the lawmakers behind it fear the bill is misunderstood.

But there are some critics who say current legislation needs to go further when it comes to reforming the state’s heavy handed drug laws.

Emmitt Reistroffer is among those who support the bulk of the Governor’s Public Safety Improvement Act. But, he is also an advocate for the reformation of marijuana laws. His organization, South Dakota Families First is lobbying to see the act go further in reducing penalties for marijuana use.

Made possible by your generous gifts. And by the Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.